Adapted from Obituary Cocktail: The Great Saloons of New Orleans, by Kerri McCaffety.

Around the beginning of the twentieth century, America invented the ultimate cocktail ­ the martini. Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop made a special version with an added splash of absinthe and called it the Obituary Cocktail.

• 4 jiggers dry gin
• ½ jigger dry vermouth
• ½ jigger Pernod (a legal absinthe substitute)

Chill in a shaker and strain.